Hump de Bump

I blogged in the past about issues I was having with the building management and the bike stands provided at work. After several bicycles where stolen from the basement the security decided to take a more proactive action with regards to cyclists.

This has resulted in those of us not able to use the racks due to full length mudguards or we use non-standard design bikes being punished as we are forced to use them or our access will be taken away. I argued that the racks where not secure and can damage bicycles but it went unheard.

In recent weeks a pass reader was put half way up the exit ramp, something which only cyclists have to use as motorised vehicles set of an automatic gate opener in the floor. This is obviously quite a pain as you either have to be perfectly skilled to be able to touch the card on the reader whilst cycling up the ramp and time it so that you get to the gate just as it opens, or stop and touch in. The later results in an uphill struggle as setting off again on a slope of this nature is not easy.

I can see why the building management decided why this would be a good idea, as the thieves where coming from the outside and able to leave at a push of a button. But why put the reader in such an inconvenient place?
Well that would be where the previous button was and to save re-wireing the whole system they decided to replace the button with a card reader. It would be much more sensible to put the reader at the bottom of the ramp where it is flat, so that you don’t have to start off on a slope.

There is a flaw in whole concept of touching out to open the gates. The gates are open for a fair amount of time after you have touched in, this means that multiple cyclists can get out at once. All you have to do is wait for a cyclist do go up the ramp and touch out, to get out without a pass.

Anyway on to the subject of this post.
An e-mail was sent out yesterday about the installation of speed bumps on the ramp due to a few near misses and apparently an accident because of speeding cyclists down the ramp.

Please be advised that on Saturday 28th January we have arranged an installation of speed humps on both of the ramps leading to the car park. They will be installed 2/3rd way down the ramp in order to control the speed of cyclists. We have experienced several near misses and an accident resulting from speeding cyclists therefore these precautions are necessary.

Further on in the e-mail

We recommend that the cyclists should walk down and push their bike both down and up the ramps.

Well I also hope that they recommend drivers and motorcyclists to get out of their vehicles and push their cars/vans/motorbikes up and down the ramps.

I managed to find out what kind of bumps they will be installing, its dimensions don’t look too bad and i expect only a small change in speed is required to get over them, how wet tyres will handle them, I’m unsure.

I spoke to a few colleagues about this and we certainly feel that the building management is a bit of a joke. We will try to form together a group and see if we can use our numbers to battle them. I suspect that getting together with the other companies in the building is going to be required, and this is going to be the tricky part.

2 Replies to “Hump de Bump”

Does seem a bit crap TBH. I have 1 site that I visit that has underground parking/bike garage in town which works in 1 of 2 ways depending on when you leave. If you leave before 17:30ish you just have the 1 metal shutter to deal with, activated by a detector HALF WAY up the ramp. Not normally a huge problem as the bike “racks” (chains on the wall….) are up the ramp and with the limited number of riders I tend to get the one next to the sensor (it has low headroom, I’m a shortarse!) so I just place bike over it as I slowly set off up the ramp.

Leave later and you have an airlock type system with 2 shutters where the one at the top won’t open until the one part way down is closed….queue more waiting!

Another site with bike parking has recently introduced cyclists only passes where you tap in near the gate (having ignored the advice to get off and push bike from the main car barrier to the shutters….) but just employ a touch button to get back out.

Does seem like your place is being a bit of an arse! Rather unacceptable IMHO especially given the high number of bike commuters in London there should be a legal requirement to provide safe and secure parking. Clearly if several bikes have been stolen there is a failing in their system which they are trying to put right by making life a difficult as possible for the cyclists. I’d hate to try and walk down a wet ramp in cleated shoes…..

Anyhow good luck with the getting together with other riders, does the building have a website for tenants? May be able to start a group there or use another social site like FB or Twitter?